Category: Message of the Day

PRAYER CHANGES ?

“One of His disciples asked Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ ” –Luke 11:1 Sometimes our prayer is a projection of our own self-hatred rather than a communication with God. For instance, Abraham began interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah by saying: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!” (Gn 18:27) Later in his prayer, Abraham begged God not to become impatient (Gn 18:30) or angry (Gn 18:32) with him, as if God could be impatient or angry. Abraham projected his own problems onto God. Eventually, Abraham quit interceding for Sodom...

PRAYER CHANGES ?

“One of His disciples asked Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ ” –Luke 11:1 Sometimes our prayer is a projection of our own self-hatred rather than a communication with God. For instance, Abraham began interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah by saying: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!” (Gn 18:27) Later in his prayer, Abraham begged God not to become impatient (Gn 18:30) or angry (Gn 18:32) with him, as if God could be impatient or angry. Abraham projected his own problems onto God. Eventually, Abraham quit interceding for Sodom...

WEED LOVERS

“Do you want us to go out and pull them up?” –Matthew 13:28 The farmer in Jesus’ parable of the wheat and weeds says something I’ve never heard a farmer or gardener say before. He says that you shouldn’t pull up the weeds because “you might take the wheat along with them” (Mt 13:29). It seems that Jesus’ wheat and weeds are much more intertwined than those of other people. This is a scary thought. It’s bad enough to put up with the weeds much less having to be closely connected to them. Jesus doesn’t want us intertwined with the...

PERSEVERANCE

“I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him Whom my heart loves.” –Song of Songs 3:2 When we think of Mary Magdalene, we recall her intense love for Jesus. She received this love from the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22; Rm 5:5). She received the Holy Spirit in such a powerful way because of her perseverance. Just as Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit by persevering in sticking with him (2 Kgs 2:1ff), so Mary Magdalene received the Spirit’s gift of love through her perseverance. When almost all Jesus’...

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

“Show us wonderful signs.” –Micah 7:15 The Lord wants to show us signs. One sign for our guilt-ridden world is that the Lord will not only remove our guilt, but also tread it underfoot (Mi 7:18-19). Guilt has a way of weighing on us, but Jesus has a way of stomping on it and thereby freeing us from it. Moreover, in our sin-sick world, sin clings to us (see Heb 12:1) with tentacles that imbed themselves into our flesh. However, Jesus will break the hold of sin in our lives, “cast into the depths of the sea all our sins”...